Foreign language teacher education in Turkey: A historical overview

Examining the history of foreign language teacher education in Turkey can provide valuable information about the true nature of the problems in teacher education and also a basis for comparing its condition with other nations’ educational policies. However, the history of language teacher education in Turkey is a subject that has not been reviewed in detail in the literature. In this study, a review of historical information related to pre-service and in-service language teacher education in Turkey is presented and the events and the political decisions that shaped foreign language teacher education have been given in a systematical order. After historical examination of the subject, both for pre-service and in-service training, it was seen that foreign language teacher education policies in Turkey were determined by contemporary political events and governmental policies rather than shaped by a certain educational philosophy. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.